Manitas De Plata

Biography

Manitas de Plata, born Ricardo Baliardo in 1921, was a French flamenco guitarist of Catalan Gitano descent. He emerged as a performer ten years after Django Reinhardt's death in 1953 and gained international recognition after a photography exhibition in New York in 1963. Baliardo performed at Carnegie Hall and The Ed Sullivan Show, and was a cousin to several notable members of the Gipsy Kings band.